Human Resource Management

13th Edition

Chapter 4
Job Analysis,
Strategic Planning, &
Human Resource Planning

Copyright © [2014] Pearson Education 4-1

 Learning Objectives
• Describe the importance of disaster planning, explain
why job analysis is a basic human resource tool, and
give the reasons for conducting job analysis.
• Describe the types of information required for job
analysis and describe the various job analysis methods.
• Identify who conducts job analysis and describe the
components of a job description.
• Explain Standard Occupational Classification (SOC),
O*NET, job analysis for team members, and describe
how job analysis helps satisfy various legal
requirements.

Copyright © [2014] Pearson Education 4-2

 Learning Objectives (Cont.)
• Describe the need for the human resource manager to be a
strategic partner, explain the strategic planning process, and
describe the human resource planning process.
• Describe forecasting human resource requirements and
availability and how databases can assist in matching
internal employees to positions.
• Identify what a firm can do when either a shortage or a
surplus of workers exists and explain strategic succession
planning in today’s environment.
• Describe manager and employee self-service and explain
some job design concepts.
• Describe the importance of global talent management.
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HRM in Action: Disaster Planning
•Should focus on possible catastrophes
and also smaller events such as a building
fire, water leak, or computer crash
•Despite the type of disaster, the result is
usually the same
•Customers want assurance that the
business can continue operation after a
disaster

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 Job Analysis
Systematic process of determining:
– Skills
– Duties
– Knowledge
required for performing
jobs in an organization

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 Job
• Consists of group of tasks that must be
performed for organization to achieve its
goals
• May require the services of one person,
such as the president
• May require the services of 75 people,
such as machine operators in a large firm

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 Position

• Collection of tasks and

responsibilities performed
by one person
• There is a position for every
individual in an organization

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 Job Analysis Should Answer
• What physical and mental tasks does the
worker accomplish?
• When is the job to be completed?
• Where is the job to be accomplished?
• How does the worker do the job?
• Why is the job done?
• What qualifications are needed to perform
the job?
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 When Job Analysis Is Performed

• When the organization is founded and

a job analysis program is initiated
• When new jobs are created
• When existing jobs are changed
significantly

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 Job Analysis: A Basic Human Resource
Management Tool
 Staffing
Tasks Responsibilities Duties
 Training and
Development
 Performance Appraisal
 Compensation
Job
Descriptions  Safety and Health
Job  Employee and Labor
Analysis Job Relations
Specifications  Legal Considerations

Knowledge Skills Abilities

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 Job Description/Job Specification

• Job Description: Provides

information regarding the
essential tasks, duties, and
responsibilities of the job
• Job Specification: minimum
acceptable qualifications a person
needs to perform a particular job

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 Job Analysis Methods

• Questionnaires
• Observation
• Interviews
• Employee recording
• Combination of methods

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 Questionnaires
• Structured questionnaires given to
employees
• Typically quick and economical
• Potential problems:
– Employees might lack verbal skills
– Employees might to exaggerate the
significance of their tasks

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 Observation
• Analyst watches worker perform job
tasks and records observations
• Used primarily to gather information
emphasizing manual skills
• Often insufficient when used alone
• Difficult when mental skills are
dominant in a job
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 Interviews
• Interview both employee and supervisor
• Interview employee first, helping him or
her describe duties performed
• After interviews, analyst normally contacts
supervisor for additional information

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 Employee Recording

• Employees describe daily work

activities in diary or log
• Valuable in understanding highly
specialized jobs
• Problem: Employees might
exaggerate job importance

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 Combination of Methods
• Analysts usually use more than one
method
• Clerical and administrative jobs:
Questionnaires supported by interviews
and limited observation
• Production jobs: Interviews supplemented
by extensive work observation

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 Conducting Job Analysis

People who participate in job analysis

should include, at a minimum:
• Employee
• Employee’s immediate supervisor

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 Job Description
• Document that states:
–Tasks
–Duties
–Responsibilities
• Needs to be relevant and accurate

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 Items Frequently Included
in a Job Description
• Major duties performed
• Percentage of time devoted to each duty
• Performance standards to be achieved
• Working conditions and possible hazards
• Number of employees performing job
• To whom the employees report
• The machines and equipment used for job

Copyright © [2014] Pearson Education 4-20

 Proper Language in the Job
Description
• Keep each statement crisp and clear:
• Structure sentences in classic verb/object and
explanatory phrases
• Always use present tense of verbs
• Use explanatory phrases telling why, how, where
• Omit any unnecessary articles
• Use unbiased terminology
• Avoid using words which are subject to differing
interpretations
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 Content of a Job Description
• Job Identification – Job title, department,
reporting relationship, and job number or
code
• Job Analysis Date – Aids in identifying
job changes that make description
obsolete
• Job Summary – Concise overview of job
• Duties Performed – Major duties of job
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 Job Specification

• Minimum qualifications worker should

possess
• Should reflect minimum, not ideal,
qualifications
• Often a major section of a job
description

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 Problems If Job Specifications
Are Inflated
• Could systematically eliminate
minorities or women from
consideration
• Compensation costs could increase
• Vacancies could be more difficult to fill

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 Standard Occupational
Classification (SOC)

• Job descriptions for all U.S.

workers in more than 800
occupations
• 2010 SOC replaces the 2000
system

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 Representative SOC Descriptions
for HR Professionals
• 13-1071 Human Resources Specialists
• Perform activities in the human resource area.
Includes employment specialists who screen,
recruit, interview, and place workers. Excludes
"Compensation, Benefits, and Job Analysis
Specialists" (13-1141) and "Training and
Development Specialists" (13-1151).
• Illustrative examples: Staffing Coordinator,
Personnel Recruiter, Human Resources
Generalist
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 Representative SOC Descriptions
for HR Professionals (Cont.)
• 11-3111 Compensation and Benefits
Managers
• Plan, direct, or coordinate compensation and
benefits activities of an organization. Job
analysis and position description managers are
included in "Human Resource Managers" (11-
3121).
• Illustrative examples: Wage and Salary
Administrator, Employee Benefits Director,
Compensation Director
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 O*NET, the Occupational
Information Network

• Comprehensive government-developed
database of:
– Worker attributes
– Job characteristics
• Primary source of occupational
information

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 Job Analysis for Team Members
• With team design, there are no narrow
jobs
• Work that departments do is often bundled
into teams
• Last duty shown on standard job
description, “And any other duty that may
be assigned,” is increasingly becoming
THE job description

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 Job Analysis and the Law

• Fair Labor Standards Act: Employees

categorized as exempt or nonexempt
• Equal Pay Act : Similar pay must be
provided if jobs, as shown in job
descriptions, are not substantially
different
• Civil Rights Act: Basis for adequate
defenses against unfair discrimination
Copyright © [2014] Pearson Education 4-30
 Job Analysis and the Law (Cont.)
• Occupational Safety and Health Act
(OSHA): Employer must specify job
elements that endanger health or are
considered unsatisfactory or distasteful by
most people
• Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA)/ADA Amendments Act: Employer
must make reasonable accommodations
for disabled workers

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 HR as a Strategic Partner
• Sharp deviation from what has traditionally
been an administrative role for HR
• HR professionals are increasingly expected
to act as a strategic partner with upper
management

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 Possible Strategic Tasks for HR
• Making workforce strategies fundamental
to company strategies and goals
• Increasing HR’s role in strategic planning;
mergers; and acquisitions
• Developing awareness and/or an
understanding of the business
• Help line managers achieve their goals

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 Strategic Planning
• Process by which top management
determines overall organizational
purposes and objectives and how they
are to be achieved
• Strategic planning at all levels can be
divided into four steps

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 Strategic Planning and Implementation Process
MISSION DETERMINATION
Decide what is to be accomplished (purpose)
Determine principles that will guide the effort

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
External: Determining external conditions, threats, and opportunities
Internal: Determining competencies, strengths, and weaknesses within the organization.

OBJECTIVE SETTING
Specifying corporate-level objectives that are:
• Challenging but attainable
• Measurable • Time-specific
• Documented (written)

STRATEGY SETTING
Specifying and documenting corporate-level strategies and planning

STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
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Strategy Implementation

• Leadership
• Organizational Structure
• Information and Control Systems
• Technology
• Human Resources

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 Human Resource Planning
(Workforce Planning)

Systematic process of:

–Matching the internal and
external supply of candidates
with job openings anticipated in
the organization over a specific
period of time

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 Human Resource Planning Process
External Environment
Internal Environment
Strategic Planning

Human Resource Planning

Forecasting Forecasting
Human Comparing
Requirements Human Resource
Resource Availability
Requirements and Availability

= Surplus of Shortage of
Supply Workers Workers

No Action Restricted Hiring, Recruitment

Reduced Hours, Early
Retirement, Layoffs, Selection
Downsizing

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 Requirements Forecast
• Determining:
–Number
–Skills
–Location
of employees that organization will
need at future dates in order to meet
goals
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Techniques for Forecasting Human
Resource Requirements

• Zero-base forecast
• Bottom-up forecast
• Relationship between volume
of sales and number of workers
required

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 Zero-Base Forecast
• Uses current level of staffing as
starting point for determining future
staffing needs
• Essentially the same procedure as
zero-base budgeting
• Key is a thorough analysis of human
resource needs
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 Bottom-Up Forecast

• Each level of organization,

starting with lowest, forecasts
its requirements to provide
aggregate of employment
needs

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 The Relationship of Sales Volume to
Number of Employees
Number of
Employees

500

400

300

200

100

0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Sales (thousands)

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 Availability Forecast
• Determination of:
– Whether firm will be able to secure
employees with necessary skills
– Sources from which to obtain
employees

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 Human Resource Databases
• Contain employee information
• Permit management to make HR
decisions
• Many workers needed for future
positions likely already work for
the firm

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Shortage of Workers Forecasted

• Innovative recruiting
• Compensation incentives
• Training programs
• Modified selection standards

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 Surplus of Employees

When a comparison of requirements

and availability indicates a worker
surplus will result, most companies
look to alternatives to layoffs, but
downsizing may ultimately be
required

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Trends & Innovations: Alternatives
to Layoffs
• Although layoffs can be a necessary cost-
cutting measure, alternatives include:
– Restricted hiring policy
– Early retirement
– Encouraging workers to use vacation time
– Swapping employees
– Moving employees from full-time to 30 hours a
week without reducing health benefits

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 Trends and Innovations:
Alternatives to Layoffs (Cont.)

• Job-sharing arrangements
• Reduce the work week
• Offer an unpaid holiday option
• Sabbaticals for selected employees

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 Examples of Firms with No
Layoff Policy

• Cleveland’s Lincoln Electric—No lay off

for economic reasons
• Southeastern Freight Lines—Goal of
keeping all employees working and
maintaining all benefits and wage levels

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 Succession Planning
• Process of ensuring that qualified
persons are available to assume
key managerial positions once the
positions are vacant
• Goal is to help ensure a smooth
transition and operational efficiency

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 Small Business Succession
Planning

• Just as, or more, important for small

businesses
• Company could face economic and tax
disasters
• Just 10% survive to the third generation
• Disaster stories are readily available

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 Manager Self-Service
• Use of software and corporate
network to automate paper-based
processes
• Reduce the administrative workload
for HR
• Give managers more control over HR
processes
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 Employee Self-Service (ESS)
• Processes that automate formerly labor-
intensive transactions for employees and
HR professionals
• ESS applications can free up valuable HR
staff time, reducing administrative time
and costs

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 Job Design
Process of determining:
–Specific tasks to be performed
–Methods used in performing
these tasks
–How a job relates to other work
in organization
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 Job Enrichment
• Basic changes in content and
level of responsibility of job to
provide greater challenge to
worker
• Provides a vertical expansion of
responsibilities

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 Job Enlargement

• Changes in scope of job to

provide greater variety
to worker
• All of the tasks at the same level
of responsibility
• Sometimes called cross-training

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 Job Rotation
• Moving employees from one job to
another to broaden their experience
• Often required for higher-level tasks
• Can be effective in protecting a
company against the loss of key
employees

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 Reengineering
• Fundamental rethinking
• Radical redesign of business processes
• Aims to achieve dramatic improvements in
critical measures of performance such as:
– Cost
– Quality
– Service
– Speed
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 A Global Perspective: Global
Talent Management
• Strategic endeavor to optimize use of
human capital
• Enables an organization to drive short-
and long-term results
• Builds culture, engagement, capability,
and capacity through integrated talent
acquisition, development, and
deployment processes that are aligned
to business goals
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Copyright © [2014] Pearson Education 4-61